Nature Communications (Jun 2017)

Optogenetic control of RhoA reveals zyxin-mediated elasticity of stress fibres

  • Patrick W. Oakes,
  • Elizabeth Wagner,
  • Christoph A. Brand,
  • Dimitri Probst,
  • Marco Linke,
  • Ulrich S. Schwarz,
  • Michael Glotzer,
  • Margaret L. Gardel

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15817
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

Read online

Cellular contractility is regulated by the GTPase RhoA, but how local signals are translated to a cell-level response is not known. Here the authors show that targeted RhoA activation results in propagation of force along stress fibres and actin flow, and identify zyxin as a regulator of stress fibre mechanics and homeostasis.